Twenty and One Roots That Grew
by Masu Trout
Summary: Naruto is Konoha. He lives and breathes the city as though it were an extension of himself, and anyone who has ever met him knows why the Village Hidden in the Leaves is not to be trifled with. Oneshot, Narusaku. Twenty truths format.


**Standard disclaimer applies.  
Mild spoiler alert.**

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1.) Naruto is Konoha. He lives and breathes the city as though it were an extension of himself and anyone who has ever met him, whether on the field of battle, a political meeting, or as a client for one of his many missions knows why the Village Hidden in the Leaves is not to be trifled with. The only people who failed to realize this fact are dead.

2.) There was a time, when Naruto was very little, that he hated the villagers for the way they treated him, how they acted condescending and as though he was below their notice. Though he would never admit it to himself, what hurt even more was the fact that he felt unnecessary. Sometimes it seemed like the village would be so much better off without him. This bit of early angst came to an abrupt end when he was six, the week he first entered the academy.

3.) To be exact, it was during one of the introductory classes, when the instructors got out a huge drawing of a tree in order to better explain a shinobi's role within Konohagakure. Each man, they explained, was like a leaf. No one leaf could feed the tree all by itself-each one was vital to maintaining the strength of the tree. Most of the children walked away with a slightly better understanding of what it meant to be a ninja of Konohagakure, and why they wore the symbol of a leaf on their forehead. Naruto, however, came away with something entirely different. The entire time the rest of the class was focusing on the lecture about leaves, Naruto was staring at the bottom of the tree. Namely, at the roots. It was in that little academy class, insignificant by anyone else's standard, that Naruto had his first epiphany about his purpose in life. If the rest of the village was the leaves of the tree, then Naruto was the roots. It explained why he was stronger and more enduring then the rest of his classmates, and why everyone looked down on him. He would keep his extended family strong, grounded in reality and what was right, just like any good root would do. Later on in life, Naruto would look back at his strange bit of symbolism, and admit that it was, in fact, pretty stupid. That didn't mean, however, that he ever stopped believing in it. Naruto's mind worked differently than most people, but no one could say that he wasn't the best there was.

4.) Naruto brooded for about five minutes when he first found out why everyone in the village really hated him. It was only five minutes because that was how long it took for him to hear Iruka's moving speech and, more importantly, for him to have the second epiphany of his life. The Fourth Hokage, the greatest, strongest, and smartest man Konoha had ever seen had gambled the lives of all the villagers on Naruto's ability to hold the demon, a creature the man himself hadn't been able to contain. The fact that he had shown so much faith in Naruto's skill led him to make his second promise of a lifetime- he would never angst about his situation, no matter how bad it got. He didn't have a perfect record, but he did far better than anyone else would have done in his circumstances.

5.) While Naruto considered himself the roots, and everyone else the leaves, there was one person whom he considered just as unique in symbolism as he was. To him, Sakura would always be the most beautiful blossom Konoha ever produced, and he would gladly give any part of himself if only to make her happy for a moment longer.

6.) The first time Naruto ever truly felt sorry for anyone was when he heard Haku's life story while he fought the boy on the bridge. The only real difference between them, he thought sadly as he watched his friend's corpse be kicked around, was that water needed no roots. To this day, Naruto still has a knee-jerk reaction whenever he hears anything that sounds even remotely like 'Gatou.' One unfortunate chuunin nearly ended up in the hospital when he made an offhand remark that, to quote, "Gate O could use some cleaning."

7.) Kyuubi and Naruto only ever conversed once, on the bridge in Wave during the fight with Haku. While Kyuubi wasn't capable of seeing the boy's psyche or reading his mind, he was perfectly able to see everything Naruto saw, and had been attentively watching as Naruto suffered twelve years of abuse. So when Naruto first appeared in the sewer-like area of the fox's prison, the demon considered itself ready. It spoke to Naruto, promising eternal life, riches, and Konoha as a spot of ash on the ground if the child would only let it free. During the first part of the demon's message, the boy was laughing. When it got to the second part, however, it saw the maggot's face grow blank and cold, and watched in shock as the kid snarled at it, the most powerful demon in the world, before disappearing from in front of it. It was then the creature had to admit that maybe, just maybe, it had made a mistake in determining which rewards to offer the child.

8.) The only promise of a lifetime he ever made aloud was the one he gave to Sakura while he was sitting on a hospital bed. Ironically enough, it was the only one he didn't manage to fulfill in the way he wanted to. To this day, he still regrets saying that out loud. Everything is always more powerful in his mind.

9.)The most uncomfortable time of Naruto's life, ranking high above the accidental kiss with Sasuke, his encounter with Orochimaru's tongue, or even Kakashi's famous 'Thousand Years of Pain' technique, was the two years he spent way from Konoha training with Jiraiya. Just the idea that something could be going on back home and he would have no knowledge of it made his skin crawl and his stomach queasy the entire time they were gone. Jiraiya lost count of the number of times Naruto asked, "Can we go home yet?" in the loud brassy voice of his.

Finally, one day about a year into their training journey, Jiraiya finally got fed up with the boy's exasperating homesickness and exclaimed loudly that he would never understand the boy, that he'd thought Naruto would want to get stronger in order to get Sasuke back, and honestly, it was like the boy was rooted to Konoha or something. In response, Naruto just shrugged and said that he was pretty sure roots couldn't be rooted to anything, since they themselves were the roots and all. Incidentally, that was the day Jiraiya stopped trying to understand the boy.

10.) It wasn't until about three months before they were scheduled to return home that Jiraiya discovered another strange fact about Naruto: he had a compass-like sense of direction regarding Konoha. It didn't matter if he blindfolded him and spun him around for five minutes straight, as soon as he was stopped, he would be able to point out Konoha's direction to within one degree of accuracy. When asked about the strange ability of his, Naruto just frowned and asked how he would ever be able to forget where his home was.

11.)During their two and a half years of travelling, Naruto learned three things about Jiraiya. One-he was strong. Two- he was completely nuts. And three-he was the biggest pervert Naruto would ever meet.

Jiraiya also learned three things about Naruto in the same period of time. One-he was strong. Two-he was completely nuts. And three-he would never have to lose sleep over whether or not Naruto would follow in the footsteps of the three wandering sannin. It was obvious Naruto would rather pull his own eyes out with a rusty spoon than stay away from Konoha for as long as either he or Tsunade had, and that he would rather pull his own heart out with a rusty dagger than do anything to hurt it.

12.) Though Naruto would never admit out loud, Naruto admires Yamato much more out of his two bloodline-implanted teachers. To him, the sharingan has always been a symbol of lies and betrayal, while the mokuton is the embodiment of Konoha itself.

13.) Naruto loves Sakura. To him, it is a truth as simple and obvious as the fact that the sky is blue or that ramen is the best food ever.

14.) No one was sure how he did it, but at some point during the rebuilding of Konoha, Naruto managed to somehow sneak 'Uchiha Itachi' and 'Nagato' into the list of names to be carved into the memorial stone. By the time anyone realized, the names were already chiseled in right beneath Jiraiya's. When one man protested having them there, Naruto just coldly asked what he would consider a man who averted a civil war, or one who saved over two thirds of Konoha's population. From then on, Konoha was known as the first city to memorialize an S-ranked missing-nin as a hero, let alone two.

15.) Eight months later, he managed to get Uchiha Sasuke's name added on below. No one even bothered protesting that time.

16.) The person Naruto hated, and still hates, the most is Uchiha Madara. To betray the village one has sworn to protect is horrible. To betray the village one helped found is simply inexcusable. Naruto's third greatest regret in life is that he wasn't able to kill the man in a more violent, bloody, and poetically fitting way. Whenever he offhandedly mentions this to someone, everyone within hearing range shivers and glances out of the corner of their eyes to the Hokage faces, where three years of rain and a team of cleaners with a powerful bleach solution all proved unable to wash away the red stain that covers most of four of the faces.

17.) The rate of defections from Kohoha has gone down nearly thirty percent since Naruto first became a real force in Konoha. Whether this is from the heightened since of loyalty he inspires or simply fear, only two people know. And neither Shikamaru nor Shino ever really saw any reason to tell.

18.) To those who didn't know Naruto well, it would seem ironic that the thing he hated most in Konoha was the organization Root. To him, however, it was anything but. Root was an organization of roots, alright, but they were more like the roots of a creeping choker plant than anything else, sliding around the village and slowly strangling it. Naruto had been planning to kill Danzo from the first day he found out just what he used his organization for-mindless, emotionless tools. It took him three years to carry out that plan, however, and he has always considered it his crowning achievement. Everyone else just calls it scary as hell.

19.) Interestingly enough, Naruto never became Hokage; the title of seventh was given to one Haruno Sakura, Konoha's Warrior Blossom. Instead, Naruto took control of Root once Danzo was dead. While still professional and overwhelmingly powerful, Root under Naruto's leadership would transform into a unit of highly emotional, highly loyal men and women who would rather commit seppuku than sacrifice a single one of their comrades whom they might be able to save. Centuries after Konoha finally fell, legends would be told about them, growing bigger and bolder each time they were passed down. At one point several millennia later, Naruto would be worshipped as a death god, a powerful and just ruler of the Underworld who would punish sinners using the army of bone masked shinigami under his command.

When asked about it one spring morning, Kakashi merely said that his father would have been proud.

20.) In the first year after they took up their respective positions, Naruto and Sakura managed to get, between them, over 800 requests for 'political alliance' marriages. Naruto was proposed to by, among others, the Mizukage, the Amekage, Sabaku no Temari,Sasame Fuuma, and Hinata Hyuuga of the Hyuuga clan. Sakura's included proposals from Sabaku no Kankurou, Hyuuga Neji, the Raikage's brother, Kirabi, and one very interesting one from a farmer in the Fire Country that offered twenty pigs as a dowry and which Sakura very nearly accepted. Eventually, however, they both just decided to hell with it and married each other. It was easier that way.

21.) The prophecy involving Jiraiya's student would come true on a greater scale than anyone ever imagined. Three years after he and Sakura were married, a book called "Icha Icha Springtime" would be released by an author known only as 'Scarecrow.' It involved the very promiscuous adventures of a demon-child named Naruto, who, through his attempts to woo Sakura, the goddess of spring, would face off against an army of red eyed demons determined to destroy her. The climax of the story was when, after giving his life to protect her, Naruto was looked favorably on by Kami and thus was reincarnated as a death god who was allowed to spend every winter with his love, which of course merited several steamy sex scenes. Needless to say, Naruto was not very happy.

He might've been a little more accepting if he'd had any way to know that that volume would, in two thousand years time, be used as a religious text by the shinobi of what would come to be known as Spring Country. It would serve as the basis of their code of honor, and eventually lead them to become true revolutionaries of the shinobi world and create an empire of peace and (very rough) love that would last one thousand years. Then again, maybe he wouldn't have been so thrilled. Naruto'd always hated perverts, and the knowledge that he'd inadvertently created an entire nation of them might've been a little too much for him to handle.

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**My first published story, yeah! Anyway, it always seemed to me like almost every story on this site has either Naruto hating Konoha, or Naruto only loving a certain few people of Konoha. I've never really seen that as something he'd feel, though. So, I wrote this.**

Anyway, reviews in general but especially concrit would definitely be appreciated.


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